When I was a kid, I had a few crushes. One was Lindsay Freeman, who spoke one of my favorite lines in cinematic history, “I’m Jill from up the hill… Wanna fool around?” in Fairy Tales (1978). I was also smitten with Amanda Peterson in Explorers (1984) as well as her numerous other films, but as a kid, Explorers was the one that got me crushing on her, though. But one of the biggest crushes that I had was on Olivia Barash from The Time Crystal (1981).
It seems that The Time Crystal was on an inordinate amount of times during my childhood because the one channel I had in Bliss, Idaho had nothing else to show, but I dug it. It was a time travelling flick with a kid who was bad at sports (check, just like me) who went to ancient Egypt to help King Tut do cool stuff (sadly unchecked). And also meet Beket, who was a teenage hottie. She was full on crush material for me as a young kid.
And she was everywhere, though at the time I didn’t recognize her because the world didn’t have IMDB and I was too dumb to realize makeup, hair, and wardrobe were apparently a thing in the film industry. Most kids crushing on her were probably much smarter than me.
The Time Crystal was a Ron Howard joint that was made for TV. Not as strong as his other work, but it probably helped keep the lights on while he was putting together his production company and looking at things like Night Shift (1982) and Splash (1984). But this isn’t about Ron Howard. People have written a lot about him and at great length, but I never had a crush on him. I dig him as an actor, and his brother Clint is one of my favorite horror go-to actors of all time. But this is about Beket and my crush on her as a kid.
It’s weird to write about crushes from childhood as an adult because it feels wrong now, but back in the day, she was only nine years older than me but looked right around my age in my mind. She has much better genes than I do, so she aged gracefully and I aged like an exposed corpse in a body farm. But at my age now, looking back at crushes has a horrid ew-factor because despite having the humor of a 12-year-old, I’m in my fifties and the crushes I had when I was like nine were also kids. But since they’re not my crush now, I think it’s probably okay to write about it. In fact, I don’t really have any crushes anymore except Denzel Washington, because who doesn’t have him as a crush?
Anyway, Olivia Barash has had a damn fine career! From Little House on the Pairie to Night Court to Repo Man to Tuff Turf and Fame, she has quite an acting resume. After a role in The Doors which included an original song, she switched over to music. I still want to know how and why Oliver Stone wrote her into The Doors, because that is a huge ask in a film about an iconic music group…and to give her an original song as well. Damn. She is on fire!
Want to find out more about her life now? Check out her Instagram.